Pomona vs. USC Trustee— thoughts?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Pomona College
1

<p>I found out this week that I was admitted to Pomona, and also that I got a full-tuition Trustee Scholarship from USC. I got financial aid from Pomona, so USC will cost ~15k and Pomona will cost ~27k. </p>

<p>I visited both schools in September just to tour the campuses; I visited USC again in February to interview for the scholarship. On my second visit to USC I got to stay overnight and go to classes, which I haven't done at Pomona. </p>

<p>Yesterday I went to a reception for Pomona admitted students in Chicago which was really wonderful, all the people were so nice and interesting and in love with Pomona. Then I came home and found out about the USC scholarship, and didn't know what to think. </p>

<p>Pros and cons:</p>

<p>Pomona
pros:
-Small classes, lower student-to-faculty ratio, closer interaction with professors= better, more intimate LAC academic experience
-Students who are super smart while still laid-back and happy and fun
-Students on financial aid can take music lessons for free
-Five college consortium offers extended resources beyond the small college
-Great food, including Snack
-Beautiful campus, close to the mountains, nice small town
-awesome outdoors club, Farm
-closer to the mountains</p>

<p>cons:
-smaller social scene, tending to feel a bit like high school (this can be lessened by making friends at other schools, but still)
-more difficult to study abroad/double major
-farther from west side/downtown/beaches, some say it's in the middle of nowhere compared to USC
-Pomona bubble could be difficult to escape, could get slightly boring
-more expensive for me
-no name recognition (though I don't really care about this)</p>

<p>USC
pros:
-12k per year (48k total) cheaper
-Thematic Option honors program offers small, stimulating classes similar to classes at Pomona
-Tons of opportunities for paid travel through both study abroad programs and summer programs (Problems w/o Passports, SURF, SOAR)
-Lot's of opportunities for research and internships
-very easy to earn multiple majors or minors
-2 credit classes available to take each semester pass/fail, available classes include Sailing, Surfing, Martial Arts, Classical Guitar...
-great school spirit, happy vibe
-ability to live in the honors dorm with other students who would be choosing USC over top schools
-closer to west side, downtown, beaches
-outdoors club is still good, from what I've heard
-more attractive girls?
-Alumni network, though I'm sure Pomona's would serve me just fine</p>

<p>cons:
-Academics would not be as strong overall
-larger classes, classroom experience not as engaging
-less interaction with professors
-less intellectual environment, less universally nerdy-yet-fun peers
-more focus on big sports; I love sports, but I'm more into outdoors, sports like beach volleyball, tennis, ultimate frisbee, hockey. I'm not that into football or basketball
-much more of a Greek scene, which I'm not really interested in, and a somewhat exclusive party scene— I've heard that guys can't get into parties unless they're in a frat?
-name recognition has a lot to do with party school/football team, at least where I live, and is less know to be a great school academically</p>

<p>Any thoughts? I know that I'll eventually have to make this choice on my own, but I'm looking for lots of input from a lot of different people. Parts of me love both schools, and I might say that I love Pomona a smidge more, but the money makes it about equal... I would feel bad making my parents may the extra money when I could be happy at both places, but I just have a hard time turning down the amazing environment at Pomona.</p>

2

<p>Also, fact that people routinely turn down Ivies for Pomona is super impressive… this wouldn’t happen for USC unless money was a factor.</p>

3

<p>You really need to visit Pomona and attend a class or two, until you have both experiences to compare you will have difficulty in deciding which is the best fit for you.
Also, Pomona may match the difference between your scholarship and the aid package they originally offered. They have done so for many students and it is worth asking the question. </p>

<p>I think you will receive a better education from Pomona but this is my opinion based on my daughter’s experience at Pomona and the relationship she has with her professors.</p>

<p>My daughter gets away from the college when she wants to have outside campus fun but mostly she finds her fun on one of the five campuses and I have not heard her complain. I am not a big fan of the area USC is located although I understand it has gotten safer than it used to be.</p>

4

<p>If I do ask Pomona if they will match the difference, do I need to be sure that I will attend Pomona if they do this? I’m still not quite sure. </p>

<p>My mom feels that as a Trustee at USC I would have access to a lot of opportunities that Pomona simply couldn’t compare with. She also thinks that I might find the social atmosphere at Pomona somewhat stifling. I don’t want to agree but its sort of hard to argue… </p>

<p>Also, when I said that many people choose Pomona over Ivies and other top schools she wondered how I knew that for sure… Does anyone know if there is cross-admit admit available? I know about Parchment but I’m not sure how legit that is.</p>

5

<p>It sounds like you already prefer Pomona. You just have to decide whether Pomona is worth that extra $48,000. </p>

<p>I will say that Pomona will provide you with an unprecedented life experience among some of the brightest people in the world. In terms of certain opportunities (which is a very broad term - do you mean opportunity on campus to do exciting things, opportunity for research, opportunities after graduation, etc), Pomona is unparalleled. With the most money per student of any LAC, Pomona is able to provide fantastic facilities, faculty, class size and availability, research, and other opportunities. The students are well taken care of.</p>

<p>I don’t know if you’d find Pomona socially stifling. Yes, it’s a small school, but your close group of friends will be about the same size anywhere. Additionally, there are plenty of opportunities to make friends at the other 4 colleges, as well as participate in inter-college sports teams and clubs.</p>

<p>Finally, just as anecdotal experience, my brother chose Pomona over Columbia, and my best friend is close to turning down Dartmouth for either Pomona or Harvey Mudd. </p>

<p>Also, though Pomona isn’t a household name across the nation, employers and grad schools know the value of a Pomona education (and in some ways, it may get you farther than USC, but it really depends).</p>

<p>So, you have to decide whether or not it’s worth the additional cost to you. Good luck, and I hope to see you in Claremont next fall!</p>

6

<p>Just a few disconnected thoughts. USC has come a long way since I was in college. The school has done a lot to raise its academic rep. Sports is never out of the picture though. The current president of SC almost always ends a speech with the phrase “Fight On”. I too like to hang out on the Westside. Tough enough to get to from Figueroa let alone Bonita. Don’t think I’d want to make the trip on the 10 very often. Took my son out to dinner on the Westside on a Thursday from Pomona. Took 90 minutes not during rush and the only reason it took only 90 minutes is that I grew up driving in LA and knew the shortcuts. to deal with the traffic. If you care to wait the Westside subway extension is scheduled to be complete in 2036. My Pomona son rarely goes to LA and doesn’t miss it. Don’t know where you are from but in LA the SC alumni network is strong which would facilitate finding a job in SoCal. Odds are if you go to SC you will, for a least a part of time be living off campus and maybe not nearby. Sixty percent of students live off campus. You have not said if the $48000 would be an issue. My son had a similar situation as you. He was admitted to a school with significant merit aid and scholarships. It cost me significantly more than the $48000 you will pay so he could go Pomona instead of the state school. His Pomona experience was worth the difference and more.</p>

7

<p>More anecdotal evidence: My S turned down Penn and Dartmouth (and USC with a substantial scholarship) for Pomona, so it does happen. For our family, the extra money for Pomona was absolutely worth it, but every family situation is different. My son wanted a smaller college experience, and had zero interest in a big rah rah sports environment. He’s gotten to know professors (his department chair happened to see us wandering around during family weekend, and made a point to come over and introduce himself and tell us how great he thought our son, a freshman, was). Research opportunities are definitely available even for freshman – our S will be staying in Claremont over the summer working with another professor. He’s also working outside of class on an independent project with 3 other students.</p>

<p>I am sure you would also have an amazing experience at USC. We have a friend whose son is there and he loves it. $12,000 a year is a lot of money, particularly if it means going into debt. You and your family need to decide whether that is a deal-breaker or not.</p>

8

<p>What an interesting dilemma. I don’t know if I can help, but I have children at each school, so I’ll at least report in. My eldest is in film school, so for him USC was a no-brainer. He loves it. He has a great scholarship. He got a lot out of Thematic Option (though I was sorry it was such a small percentage of the overall courseload.) He has cool, interesting friends, and the sports scene/Greek scene has played almost no role in his life at USC. He is very social, however, and has had a blast exploring all the different aspects of an intensely urban environment. I’ve been less than enthused about his living situation at times - off campus living beginning in the second year is the norm, and not all off-campus housing is that great. Having a car starting sophomore year was pretty important because he had a lot of off-campus activities. He likes road trips with friends, and regularly goes to Joshua Tree, Death Valley, Vegas, the coast. All in all, he can’t imagine himself in a better situation, and he is a really smart kid with good judgment.</p>

<p>My D adores Pomona. When I point out how expensive it is, she claims that it’s worth every single penny. She’s happy to be close enough to LA to go visit her brother, but she’s quite happy not to be a student at USC. (But then she’s a humanities type - not a film student.) She loves the outdoor life, and her brother is envious of how easy it is for Pomona students to get out and go hiking (USC students probably go to the beach far less often than Pomona students do some sort of outdoor activity, if his experience is any guide.) The housing is amazing - no problem getting a single. Campus is safe. Food is excellent. Campus is gorgeous (as is SC, to be sure, but in a different way). She feels the 5C arrangement makes the college feel like a bigger school, but she also knew she didn’t want a schoool as big as SC. Aside from all these lifestyle issues, I do think she gets more academic stimulation than a typical USC student would. Her classes are tiny, and her professors very attentive. There’s always a tough choice among a multitude of great classes and profs. Her fellow students are so smart!! They are also plenty diverse: it’s not as if there’s an entire campus of overprivileged prep schoolers, as you might imagine when you consider Pomona’s top ranking and selectivity. </p>

<p>I think you’ve got a good read on the pro’s and con’s, except that I think you underestimate how easy it is for Pomona students to study abroad, and the plentiful opportunites for research and similar things. </p>

<p>Good luck with your decision, and congrats on having such great options!</p>

9

<p>To OP: Interesting approach that leads to the location “advantage” for USC!! What’s the point of being “closer to the West side” if it lands you smack next to one of the most notorious gang/murder “capitols” in all of California, or even, the US? This is Central and South Central LA we are talking about. </p>

<p>USC is a fantastic school and S’s second choice behind Pomona, but location wise in our minds it has always been <strong>THE BIGGEST</strong> negative point of the school, no matter how we try to reassure ourselves, and no matter how often we read that there might not be any statistical data to prove the lack of safety.</p>

<p>We live in LA and I used to drive through Central/South Central LA on my way to work for years. The area feels so unsafe that no matter how bad the traffic, I tried never to get off the freeway. I was afraid that someone may shoot me accidentally or after getting into a traffic accident with the local residents. No exaggeration.
Good luck with your decision and congratulations.</p>

10

<p>Hi there:</p>

<p>Our daughter chose Pomona over many other more “prestigious” and Ivy schools because of the intimacy of the academic experience and overall quality of its undergraduate education. She has never looked back, loves very aspect of the school, meets regularly for lunch with her profs and is fulfilling herself in every way. When she is off for break or vacation, she can’t wait to get back to Pomona and her many new friends there.</p>

<p>Each to his or her own, I know, but to cannga’s point, there is one very good reason we didn’t look too closely at USC and that is campus location. Our fears were confirmed recently by this unfortunate tragedy:</p>

<p>[USC</a> students slain: ‘This really scares me’ - latimes.com](<a href=“Archive blogs”>Archive blogs)</p>

<p>Good luck, wherever you decide to attend.</p>

11

<p>I know USC has a lot to commend it, however a close relative of mine was assaulted while a student there, so I’m not neutral on this question. If you haven’t seen the gang presence yourself, it’s hard to imagine just how indifferent people can be about shooting another human being. Gang territory is easily within a mile of the USC campus. Way too close.</p>

12

<p>I attended Pomona as an undergrad, and later spent almost a year visiting USC on a regular basis for post-grad study and research collaboration. The SC prof and students I worked with were tip-top in every way. The USC campus is beautiful and I always felt safe while I was there. However, the vast major of sophomores and above don’t live on campus, but rather in the surrounding neighborhoods. My wife spent her childhood not far from those neighborhoods, and while USC has worked very hard to make that area safer, USC was also the only college my wife openly told our D that she didn’t want her to attend. Tens of thousands of students have absolutely loved their USC experience, just know that it will be very different from the one you’ll find at Pomona when it comes to housing.</p>

13

<p>No dog in this fight but ds2 is interested in Pomona so I follow this forum.</p>

<p>You haven’t said whether the extra $48k would present a hardship to your family. For us, it would be a deal-breaker. If that $48k difference would be covered by loans, then I’d say no way.</p>

<p>You seem to have done a great pro/con list. If the money isn’t an issue, I’d get back to Pomona before making a decision. USC has gotten its second look, but Pomona hasn’t. An overnight plus sitting in on some classes will help you decide whether your people really are at Pomona.</p>

14

<p>Will go ahead and throw my 2 bits in:
We get tuition remission at USC- ie it is free</p>

<p>1st S went to Harvey-Mudd. It was a lot of work and no play and son did not love it but got a great education and found employment easily</p>

<p>2nd S went to USC and got some scholarship money in addition to the tuition remission. He loved it - partied a LOT I never heard him discuss classes or academics but he loved the big sports stuff. post college jobs were a little tougher and he joined the military</p>

<p>3rd S is now at Pomona - he loves it and often tells us about specific classroom experiences - I am not sure if this son is having a better classroom experience than the USC one or is just more willing to share</p>

<p>For both S 1 and S3, I had to add a day of work to my schedule to pay for it.
The extra work is worth it to me for these boys to attend these colleges but you need to really sit down and decide what the money means to the family and what the sacrifice will do to everyone.
These are 2 very different schools. I honestly cannot imagine a better college experience than my youngest is having at Pomona but the middle son though USC was great and from a parent’s standpoint the “free” part was quite nice.</p>

15

<p>Thanks everyone for your comments, especially those with direct experience at both schools. I just got back from staying overnight both places, and I’ve pretty much decided on USC.</p>

<p>I’m sorry to say no to Pomona, as it really is a fantastic school. I went to two classes and they were amazing, great professors and great discussions. The campus is beautiful. Peter Olson, former CEO of Random House publishing, was on campus speaking and I went to the event— it was really interesting and inspiring. I think it really came down to personal fit for me. I had heard from many people that the best thing about Pomona is the people, so I guess I had sort of high expectations to really love the people I met… this didn’t really turn out to happen for me, as I didn’t really click with my host or very many of the people I met through him. I did hang out with some people that I really liked at the On The Loose (outdoors club) office . I borrowed someone’s bike and went through the other four campuses, which are reaaallyyy nice too, especially Scripps. I left Pomona feeling like I liked it a lot, but wasn’t not totally in love. </p>

<p>When I stepped onto the USC campus I just sort of had that “feeling.” I think maybe I’m just more of a big school person. USC feels so full of energy to me. </p>

<p>I went to three classes at USC: one had two professors for eight students, the other two had about ten to fifteen students. I just picked these randomly from the course selection because they sounded interesting. All three classes were super fascinating and engaging, just as good as the Pomona classes I went to were. I know that Pomona probably has a better academic reputation, but USC has a 9:1 student to faculty ratio, not so much worse that Pomona’s 7:1, and it has an excellent International Relations program which is what I think I’m interested in. I’m also turning down UChicago and Bowdoin, and I guess I was afraid that I would be sacrificing academic rigor, but the classes I went to at USC really convinced me that it will not be too much of a sacrifice. </p>

<p>I met some really fantastic people at USC. My host turned down Columbia. One girl was really really funny, she actually does stand-up I guess. She only visited USC initially because she wanted to visit Pomona and her parents said she couldn’t fly to California from Missouri and only visit one school. She ended up falling in love with USC. </p>

<p>The dorm where my host lives, Birnkrant, is only for scholarship students, and seems like a great community to live in freshmen year; everyone I talked to who lived there said they absolutely loved it, and people I talked to who didn’t lived there said they wished they could have. I put Birnkrant for my first three choices on the housing app (triple, double, single), and I applied pretty early so I think I should get it. I sort of like the fact that students move out of dorms after freshmen year, since I think it would be a good learning experience to actually rent a house or apartment and cook my own food; also, moving into a house with a bunch of friends while still in college just sounds fun to me. Personally, the fact that everyone lives in dorms and eats in the dining halls all four years at Pomona was a bit of a turn off, but I’m sure lots of people prefer this to the system at USC… it’s really all personal. </p>

<p>I felt like USC’s campus was just as beautiful as Pomona’s, just bigger and different. Just as many fountains, courtyards, beautiful trees and flowers, gorgeous architecture… I especially love the Mudd Hall of Philosophy.</p>

<p>As far as location, it seems awesome to me to be just three miles from the museums and restaurants and entertainment of downtown, while still in a very distinct and separate campus with lots of green space. I know there are safety issues, and the recent shooting is very scary and tragic. However, for what it’s worth, the students who died that night were well outside the perimeter that is patrolled by campus police. The area has always felt safe to me when I’ve been there, and kids I talked to said they feel extremely safe. Pomona’s location is very nice in a different way— it’s so close to the mountains, and a ways away from the city which I’m sure would be nice sometimes. Personally Claremont felt a bit sleepy to me, but that’s sort of nice in some ways. </p>

<p>As for the whole Greek scene, I talked to lots of people who weren’t a part of it that said it wasn’t dominating or necessary at all. If anything it seems like it would just add an extra option for having fun it that’s what you’re interested in, if not you don’t need to participate at all. I heard from some Pomona students that the party scene can get a bit repetitive and boring after a few years, but for some I’m sure it’s perfect! Again, to each his own. </p>

<p>I’m sure I could have been very happy at either school, and I don’t mean to knock Pomona in any way. I wrote this out as much to sort of reflect on my own thoughts as to inform anyone who was curious what my decision ending up being and how I came to it. Part of me is very sad to say goodbye to Pomona, and perhaps if I’d had a different host or things had gone differently during my visit I might have fallen in love with the school. In general, however, I think I simply realized that I prefer the energy and options of a larger school to the tight-knit, supporting community of a small school. And the money doesn’t hurt ;)</p>

<p>If anyone wants to post a rebuttal feel free haha, but I think you’ll have a hard time swaying me… I already bought a USC hoodie. Thanks again for the comments!</p>

16

<p>With full disclosure of my obvious bias, you’re missing out on a lot at Pomona. But you seem to have found a perfect fit at USC (even better since it’s $48,000 cheaper). You can’t ask for more than that.</p>

<p>Best of luck!</p>

17

<p>Congrats on your decision JAlfred. It sounds like you’ve made a great decision for yourself. With the enthusiasm you already have for USC you’ll be a really great addition to their community.</p>

18

<p>Congrats on your decision. Sounds like the right pick for you. And that $48K Will come in handy elsewhere.</p>